


Consider It a Gift

by then00breturns1101



Series: DnD-nanigans [5]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Aftermath of trauma, Braiding hair as form of affection, Discussions of Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gen, Light Angst, Pike is Mute, Portia and Tiny briefly mentioned, Somewhat, Touch-Starved, mute character, rated T for language i guess, someone just get them to hug please, this could be read as romantic or platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28734942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/then00breturns1101/pseuds/then00breturns1101
Summary: After arriving in Tempelwald, Pike finds herself thinking about Leora, and what the two of them had just gone through. Who should show up but the bright halfling herself?Maybe she can convince Pike to accept some help, for a change. And some affection, while they're at it. Gods know they both need the rest.
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Pike "The Silencer" Thaewise & Leora Underbough, Pike "The Silencer" Thaewise/Leora Underbough
Series: DnD-nanigans [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886455
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Consider It a Gift

**Author's Note:**

> target audience of roughly 8.7 people, wahoo  
> i very much enjoy being a DM, and very much enjoy the characters! Pike Thaewise belongs to the lovely Silverskye13, Leora was created by a friend in the same campaign and is an NPC.  
> they have some History :)

Pike had heard of Tempelwald before, but she had never actually been there. It didn’t have a gladiator ring or much of a fighting scene like Esterdence did. It wasn’t even the type of place to attract sorcerers or students. For all intents and purposes, it was a completely ordinary town that was of little interest to anyone but ordinary people.

So, it had surprised her that Tiny, the halfling she’d… made an alliance with, had been so set on bringing his sister Leora here. Leora had always been one for wanderlust and wonder. She was curious, stubborn, and never seemed like the stationary type. Pike couldn’t fathom why Leora of all people would want to stay _here,_ of all places.

Still, after what they’d all just been through, she could understand the desire to lay low. Stay out of the way. Not get into any more… _situations._ If this was a place where Leora would be safe and protected, Pike was glad that it existed. Leora just had to be safe.

After all the two of them had been through, and the danger Pike had put her in, she at least owed her friend that. They all owed her that.

Apparently, the halfling family that had taken them in agreed. While most of their party was too tall to fit comfortably in the High-Hill home, Portia had still insisted on paying for an inn room for Pike, Amathea, and the two dragonborn. The stubborn warrior did not, apparently, take “no” for an answer. Damn halflings and their constant, selfless hospitality.

She was starting to think that the reputations halflings had of being sedentary and unambitious were undeserved, really. Or maybe she had just met a particularly brave bunch of them.

Her train of thought continued on its course as she dropped her bag on the floor and took a look at herself in the small mirror provided to her on the bedside table. What she saw made her pause. Gods, she was a mess. Her face was smeared with red and brown, and something about her cheeks looked gaunter than it should have. Leaves and twigs stuck out from the rat’s nest that her hair had become.

Right. Time to get this taken care of. Clean up her hair first, then her face.

Pike was working on removing some of the more stubborn clumps of dirt from her hair, dry leaves already pulled out and scattered on the ground, when she heard a knock on the door outside.

“Pike?” said a voice in a familiar cadence. “You still awake in there?”

She got up and opened the door with a smile, looking down at the red-haired halfling woman in the hall. Leora was just who she wanted to see at this point, and the reverse seemed to be true as well, judging by Leora’s grin.

“Great, I was hoping you’d still be awake! Wanted to say…” her voice trailed off and she shrugged. “Well, just to chat. Been a long day.”

Pike nodded and stepped aside to let Leora in. She closed the door as the halfling sat on the wooden chair in the corner of the room, easily making herself comfortable. Despite having come in “to chat,” Leora made no move to talk.

Well, there would be no use in sitting and staring. Pike still had her mess to clean. She picked the comb back up and sat on the bed, trying in vain to pull the knots loose.

Leora’s gaze shifted into a frown as she watched Pike struggling with the tangles and mats in her hair. Nobody had really gotten the chance to clean up after their last fight with the Hungry, and everyone was still looking visibly rough. Pike, who had taken a pretty nasty bite, was faring no differently. The blood, both her own and the sorrowsworn’s, caked on her face, hair, and clothing wasn’t helping her case either.

Right. There had to be something she could do about that. Leora hopped off the chair and sat on the bed instead, putting a hand on Pike’s arm.

“You’re gonna pull your hair out at that rate,” she said. “C’mon, let me help.” Leora nudged Pike off the bed and onto the floor, sitting against the edge of the mattress in a familiar motion.

They had done this plenty of times before. Braiding one’s own hair could be remarkably exhausting if injured or tired, but braiding someone else’s was a pleasant way to unwind. Leora whispered the incantation to create water and started running a wet rag through the dried blood on Pike’s hair, gently easing it out.

“There, that’s working a lot better, isn’t it?” Leora hummed. Pike nodded with a resigned sigh as she raised up her gauntlet.

 _Thanks,_ it said, hurriedly written on in chalk.

“Mhm.” Leora waved her hand again and the water in Pike’s hair disappeared, leaving it dry and much cleaner than it had been before. The tangles, however, still needed to be dealt with, so Leora picked up the comb on the bedside table and started teasing the knots in Pike’s long brown hair loose.

The silence that hung between them, though it was one Pike had experienced many times before, still left her just the slightest bit unsettled. Leora was chattier than this, normally.

Normally.

What _was_ normal anymore? Their lives had just been completely turned upside down and sideways, torn to pieces by undead monstrosities and conniving sorcerers. Hell, Leora had been possessed for nearly _two years._

…Come to think of it, that seemed like it’d had a heavy impact on her. That didn’t surprise Pike. Anyone would’ve been messed up by that.

She started writing again and lifted her gauntlet for Leora to see.

 _Are you okay?_ It said in her usual messy scrawl. Behind her, Pike heard Leora sigh.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

 _I’m no genius, but I’m not stupid,_ Pike wrote back in response. _You’re quieter than usual._

“…Right, you got me there,” Leora mumbled as she continued brushing. “Just… still a little shaken, I guess. A _lot_ has happened.”

Pike didn’t respond, just leaned back a little as Leora’s hand threaded through her now untangled hair. She wasn’t normally one for physical affection, so this was one of the few types of contact that she actually enjoyed. The other one would be what was playfully dubbed “pikepacking,” where Tiny would jump onto her back and just get carried around until she put him back down.

Pike would never admit that she did like both of those, not even to herself, but she knew Leora thought so. She caught the playful, teasing looks and that mischievous glint in the halfling’s bright blue eyes. She heard the comments about Pike’s “intimidating” reputation being contradicted.

She tried not to think about all that very often. Pike didn’t enjoy the possibility of vulnerability, of trusting too much, even after what they’d been through together. _It’s just a debt,_ she reminded herself. _It’ll all be over when it’s paid off._

Or at least, that’s what Pike kept saying, until those idiots kept saving her life again. At this rate, she was getting in too deep, wasn’t she? When would they consider it repaid? Why did they keep helping her?

Pike let out a short huff as she felt a gentle tug at her scalp. Leora got to work taking strands of hair and weaving them together into a neat sewn braid.

“What about you?” she asked. “What’s on your mind?”

Pike chuckled as she wrote the message. Leora’s hands stilled as she paused to read it.

_They keep helping me out. Now I owe them even more._

To Pike’s surprise, Leora just started laughing.

“Pike,” she managed through her giggles, “have you maybe considered that they just _want_ to help?”

The fighter turned just enough that Leora could see the skeptical look on her face. Yeah, right.

“I’m serious!” Leora insisted. “They like you, really. Of course they’d stick around.”

 _Sounds fake, but alright,_ Pike responded. Leora resumed her prior task of working through the braid, meticulous as always. She was never one to do things halfway, especially when it came to helping others. Even Pike. Especially Pike.

 _Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve stuck around,_ she wrote again. Leora leaned over to read it, but didn’t laugh like she had before. Instead, she tied a length of cord around the end of the finished braid and sat back. When Pike turned around to look at her, Leora smiled.

“Well, you make me happy.”

That gave Pike pause. She froze, trying to get her mind and hand to work together enough to think of a proper response to that. It didn’t make any _sense,_ but Leora was still sitting there, still looking at her with that soft glow to her face that made Pike’s heart swell with—pride? It was probably pride.

 _At least let me return the favor,_ she scribbled, willing her hand to actually move the way she wanted it to and not drop the damn chalk. Leora absentmindedly touched the ends of her own hair, already coming loose, and nodded.

The two proceeded to switch positions—Pike sat on the edge of the bed, while Leora knelt in front of it. As Pike undid the tangled and messy remains of the braid, Leora started singing under her breath.

Singing was never something that Pike had particularly wished to do. Even when she had her voice, it never appealed to her much. There hadn’t been any reason to do it, and it wasn’t something she missed now that she was unable to.

Still, hearing Leora sing that melody in a language Pike couldn’t understand—a Halfling dialect, she assumed—made her appreciate the love others seemed to have for it. There was something soothing about it, something that stilled her mind and put her at ease. Or maybe that was just the feeling of her hands weaving through Leora’s curls and braiding them together. She could recall many nights on the road, spent doing exactly this, letting Leora’s voice wash over her and lull her into a peaceful rest.

Before Pike knew it, both the song and the process of braiding were over. Leora’s hair, much longer and more naturally unruly than her own, now rested in a braid down her back, and Pike’s hands returned to her lap.

“Thanks,” said Leora as she stood back up and turned around. “Hadn’t really gotten the chance to tidy that up. And judging by your face, neither have you. Hold still.”

Pike didn’t get the chance to ask Leora what she meant by that before the wet cloth was on her face again, gently rubbing away the residual grime.

Right.

Hair first. Then face.

Pike’s eyes darted around the room as Leora kept up the gentle, circular motions of the cloth. There was only ever enough pressure to remove the dirt and blood—never enough to hurt. Leora was careful like that.

Looking directly at her felt overwhelming, so Pike just closed her eyes. Leora knew her well enough to tell how much trust that action required, and she couldn’t help the soft smile that returned to her own face.

She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed this. How much they both had.

Pike’s eyes opened again when Leora pulled the cloth back and stepped away.

“There, does that feel better?” she asked as she dried the cloth out with another spell slot and folded it into her pocket. Pike scrunched up her face, glad to no longer feel that itchy, tugging feeling, and nodded.

 _Thanks. I owe you one._ Leora read the message and playfully elbowed Pike in the hip.

“Consider it a gift. Now get some rest, alright? I’ll see you off in the morning.” Leora walked off towards the door to leave, only to turn around right as she put her hand on the doorknob. “And yes, I’ll be safe. Don’t you worry about me.”

With one last smirk, Leora was out the door, leaving Pike alone in the inn room again.

Right. Leora would be safe.

She’d see her again.

She _would_ see her again.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm soft for the warrior lesbians okay 😔


End file.
